THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA • FOUNDED 1885
PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2024
VOL. CXL
University investigating pro-Palestinian student group Penn Against the Occupation PAO is not allowed to organize events in Penn-affiliated spaces until the investigation has concluded
DEMOLITION OF UNIVERSITY CITY TOWNHOMES BEGINS
NO. 9
Penn receives record number of applications for Class of 2028 despite admin. turmoil 65,230 students applied to the Class of 2028 amid an unprecedented semester for the University
VIVI SANKAR Staff Reporter
ETHAN YOUNG Staff Reporter
The University has opened an investigation into Penn Students Against the Occupation of Palestine, prohibiting the group from organizing events in Penn-affiliated spaces until the probe has concluded. Penn’s Center for Community Standards and Accountability is leading the investigation into PAO, a pro-Palestinian student organization, according to a source familiar. The organization has been temporarily removed from Penn Clubs, an online directory of registered student organizations. The DP could not confirm what sparked the investigation or when it was launched. PAO was listed on Penn Clubs as recently as Feb. 18, according to website archives. A University spokesperson told the DP that “the privilege of being listed on the Penn Club website is a benefit of being an active registrant with the Office of Student Affairs.” “A club would not be listed in the event of a lapse or suspension of registration, among other reasons,” the spokesperson added. Multiple PAO members declined to comment. PAO is the first political advocacy group known to be the subject of a University investigation since a Penn spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal in December that probes into three registered student groups were ongoing. The investigation into PAO follows a recently amended lawsuit filed by Penn students regarding antisemitism on campus. The lawsuit mentions multiple Penn student organizations, including PAO — which is cited in allegedly antisemitic instances almost 30 times. According to the amended lawsuit, PAO is a student group that recently formed “as if to one-up the antisemitism.” The plaintiffs allege that PAO “demonize[s] Penn Hillel’s Birthright Israel program,” and that in its 2022 Penn Disorientation Guide, PAO falsely stated that “Israel is a settler colonial state that uses apartheid to further its ethnic cleansing agenda.” PAO has participated in multiple pro-Palestinian demonstrations since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, several of which have prompted public responses from University administrators. In December, PAO joined a pro-Palestinian march across Philadelphia that culminated in a rally of over 500 attendees at 40th
Penn received a record number of applications for the Class of 2028 despite campus leadership transitions and concerns over antisemitism and Islamophobia. The Class of 2028 received 65,230 applications, according to Interim President Larry Jameson’s stated remarks at a University Board of Trustees Meeting on March 1. Over 8,500 of these students applied to Penn through the Early Decision program, according to an earlier University announcement. Applications are up more than 10% from the year prior – the Class of 2027 received more than 59,000 applications. The increase in applications follows an unprecedented semester for the University. Both Penn’s president and Board of Trustees chair resigned in December, and many students expressed concer ns about antisem itism and Islamophobia on campus throughout the fall semester. This is also the first application cycle since the Supreme Court’s overturn of affirmative action last year. In an interview with the Penn Gazette, Vice Provost and Dean of Admissions Whitney Soule shared that while admissions officers are not aware of an applicant’s race throughout the application process, they still are “reading students with the full integration of complexity that they reveal about themselves.” “The substance of how we think about reading the totality of a student within an application and the information they provide to us to think about them as an individual—that part does feel familiar,” Soule added. “What is different, though, is that we can’t know the racial or ethnic makeup of the class that we are intending to admit, and what that might represent for the students who enroll.” While Penn saw an increase in applications, other Ivy League institutions did not, at least in the early admissions cycle. Harvard University saw a 17% decrease in early action applications and Brown University saw a 5% decrease in total applications from last year. Penn made several changes to its application for the 2023-24 admissions cycle. An essay prompt unique to each undergraduate school was added to the application on July 31, a transition from the previous single short answer used
“It was hard enough when I had to leave the day my son pulled up with a moving truck, but I got the same feeling, if not worse,” 29-year resident Darlene Foreman said. EMILY SCOLNICK AND DIAMY WANG Senior Reporters
See page 3 inside
See PAO, page 3
ETHAN YOUNG | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
See APPLICATIONS, page 7
Penn professor, five alumni sanctioned by Russian government Professor of Russian and Eastern European Studies Mitchell Orenstein and five Penn alumni were on the list of 227 Americans banned from entering Russian territory ELLA SOHN AND KATIE BARTLETT Assignments Editor and News Editor
PHOTO FROM PENN TODAY
Professor of Russian and East European studies Mitchell Orenstein (lef t) listens to Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov (right) on April 30, 2019. SEND STORY IDEAS TO NEWSTIP@THEDP.COM
The Russian government banned a Penn professor and five Penn alumni from entering its territory in a press release on March 14. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation released a list of 227 sanctioned U.S. citizens, including professor of Russian and Eastern European Studies Mitchell Orenstein Following the announcement, The Daily Pennsylvanian spoke with Orenstein and other sanctioned Penn affiliates about how the ban connects to their work on Russian affairs. According to the Russian press release, the ban applies to individuals engaged in “anti-Russia” undertakings. The list included academics from across the country, members of the United States executive branch, the business community, and the media industry. Orenstein’s research focuses on the political economy of Central and Eastern Europe, and he is a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute — a Philadelphiabased think tank that conducts research on geopolitics and international security. He described the Ministry’s justification for the sanction list as a “blanket characterization” of academics in his field. He said that he may have been added to the list for his 2019 book “The Lands in Between: Russia vs. the West and the New Politics of Hybrid War,” which analyzed Russia’s strategy of competing for influence in European countries and political processes in the West. According to Orenstein, the book initially received criticism for being overly harsh on Russia. He said that the criticism largely vanished after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Orenstein said that a way of thinking about the sanction was as targeting perspectives on Russia that were “too accurate.” “Maybe they were concerned about just somebody actually putting out a more realistic interpretation of what they’re doing,” he said. “They want people to be confused about their intentions, to always be wondering what’s going on.”
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Orenstein said that the sanction would have little practical impact on his work since he has been cautious about traveling to Russia since 2014. He added that — while the Foreign Ministry may be seeking to negatively impact academics’ credibility by limiting their ability to travel — the sanction can have the opposite effect of legitimizing their work. “It’s basically a badge of honor because you’ve been noticed by Russia and recognized for your perspective,” he said. Several Penn alumni on the list expressed similar thoughts regarding the sanction’s justification and implications. 1971 College graduate Stephen Blank, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, told the DP that he considered the sanction a “great honor.” “It shows that at least the Russians are reading what we write about them and taking it seriously,” he said. Blank, who has published several books about European and Asian security, added that anyone who studies Russia should seek to objectively evaluate the current state of affairs. “I don’t think an objective assessment of Russian reality leads in any direction other than a sustained critique of what increasingly appears to be a regressive mafia state that is fully consonant with much of Russian history, including, unfortunately, Stalin,” he said. The list also named 1990 College graduate Elise Giuliano, the director of the Program on United StatesRussian Relations at Columbia University. In a written statement, Giuliano noted that the sanction includes academics who have spent their careers on the study and teaching of Russian politics. “The accusation of Russophobia is not a serious one,” she wrote. “The sanctions are targeted not as much at the Americans on the list as at Russia’s population who are continually directed to feel hostility toward westerners.” See RUSSIA, page 3 CONTACT US: 215-422-4640